Improvement in the manufacture of spoons



EUNITED STATES PATENT Qrrrcn.

Gr. I. MIX, OF YALESVILLE, CONNECTICUT.

IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SPOCONS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 58,665., dated October 9, 1866.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, G. I. MIX, of Yalesville, in the town of Wallingford, county of New Haven, and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement in the Manufacture of Spoons, Forks, Ladies, and other articles of similar character; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact descriptionot' the same, reterence being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

The common method of manufacturing spoons of silver, German silver, alba-ta, and other hard alloys, is, iirst, to cast the metal or alloy into ingots of suitable size; next, to roll out the ingots into sheets of a uniform thickness, equal to what is required for the narrower and thicker portions of the shanks. These sheets are then cutinto blanks of aforni substantially like that shown in Figs. l and 2, which represent, respectively, a plan and an edge view, such blanks being shorter than the spoon, and in some parts wider. The blanks are at'tervard drawn down between rolls of suitable shape to bring them to the proper thickness in the several parts, and then trimmed in dies preparatory tothe inal stamping process by which they are shaped.

Several rolling operations are necessary to reduce the ingots to sheets of the requisite thickness; and between the successive rolling operations the meta-l has to be frequently annealed and scraped.

Much labor and a large consumption of fuel for heating are involved in the above method of manufacture, and besides this there is much loss of material, for more than halt the stock is cut into scraps by the iirst cutting out and subsequent trinnning operations gV and although this scrap is remelted and rolled out again, there is considerable waste in renielting. Furthermore, there is much waste, owing to Athe aws which result from frequent rolling, the flaws having to be scraped ont; and in many cases there aretlaws which render the entire blank worthless, except as stock for reworking. These remarks apply also to the manufacture ot' forks, ladles, Src.

The object of this invention is to reduce the great labor, consumption ot' fuel, and waste of stock involved in the above process, and to produce goods of better quality, and to this end the invention consists in casting the metal (preparatory to rolling) into blanks of such form and varying thickness that but little rol1- ing is required to bring them to the required shape for finishing.

Figure 3 is a plan, and Fig. an edge, view, and Figs. 5 and 6 transverse sections, in the lilies a' w and y y, of a spoon-blank obtained by casting as in my process.` I

It will beobserved by reference to Fig. 3 that the blank is in its various parts ot a width approximating to what is required for the spoon; and by reference to Fig. 4, that it is made with the swell a, necessary for strength, at the junction of the shank with the bowl, this swell extending some distance into the bowl part, the blank tapering from the said swell all the way to the head or extremity of the handle 5 also, that the bladeis made thicker at the point where the greatest thickness is required in a well-made spoon.

The blanks may be cast in molds ot' cast-` iron, sand, or otherl material employed for molds, according to the kind of metal' or alloy of which the spoons are made. The cast blanks are rolled suiiiciently to bring them to the proper shape for trimming land iinishing, and to give the metal the necessary toughness and solidity. By thus casting the blanks, not only are they enabled to be finished with but little rolling, but there is very little waste of stock in trimming, and the whole expense ot' rolling into sheets is saved.

By this mode of manufacturing the spoons they can as easily be made thick as thin at the junction ofthe shank with the bowl and through the narrow partof thehandle; whereas, owing to the great expense that would be involved in the subsequent rolling it' the sheets from which the blanks are cut were made Very thick at that point, few or none ofthe spoons made in this country are made as strong as desirable at that point, and the consequence is that the stronger kinds of spoons-for hotels, ships, and Steamers-are imported.

What I claim as my invention, and desire t0 secure by Letters Patent, is-

The spoon-blank cast and subsequently rolled, as described, as an article of manufac tur'e.

G. I. MIX. TWitnesses HENRY T. BROWN, J. W. Cooars. 

